22: The bright lights of Bangkok

I wake up feeling dozy after a fitful night of unrest, the
heats thick enough to cut, it's just too hot to get any proper sleep. The
first thing I see as I go for a shower is the new superhighway being
constructed over an absurdly busy road, the little people working on it look
like ants and the giant pieces of cement like small Lego bricks.

I leave the apartment and walk down Soi 68 on Sukhumvit Road,
picking up my daily breakfast of pork and sticky rice on the way. After
skillfully removing the fat from the pork (the fat is equal to approximately
60% of the total content) I walk to the bus stop while eating. The bus is
non-air-conditioned and costs the princely sum of 4 Baht, it is however rammed
full of people all heading for "On Nut," the furthest South-Easterly station on
Bangkok's Sky Train system, the BTS. The driver of the bus' foot must be
weighed down with cement; his harsh use of the age old brakes sweeps everyone
toward the front of the bus like the crowd at the front of ACDC gig.

After jumping, and I do mean jumping from the bus (the bus never
actually comes to a halt, you have to time your exit to perfection) and
climbing the stairs I join the throng of people in the queue for a Sky Train
ticket. 20 Baht and 10 short minutes later, I am whisked to my destination,
Phrom Phong. On the stairs to the sky train, a chewing gum company gives away
packets of its latest product, amusing to see everyone impersonating Alex
Ferguson and chewing in unison at 8.30 am.

At Phrom Phong, towering glass doors are opened for me by a kind
gentleman in a white suit and top-hat, I am in the Emporium shopping plaza,
perhaps the most lush shopping centre in Bangkok and home to the Emporium
branch of King's college.

I meander along over-polished floors and lazily cast my eye over
the window displays for 'Prada,' 'Gucci,' 'Rolex' and 'DKNY' while thinking how
far removed this is from my journey to Jindaratana in LopBuri. The express lift
swiftly delivers me to floor number nine, its high speed causing nauseating
motion sickness. My first lesson begins at 9.00 am, a three hour summer school
with junior learners.

The scene as I enter the class-room is of 7 children between the
ages of 7 and 11. One is playing on his 'Gameboy Advance,' one is combing her
hair in a pocket mirror', two are playing an infra-red game on their mobile
phones and the other three are playing 'top trump' cards. In fairness they
responded well to my asking them kindly to put their 'toys' away, on the third
(and final) time of asking, they did exactly that!

The lesson was good fun, the students are much higher level in
Bangkok and their exposure to English happens with greater regularity, they
listen to dreary English pop, ride the sky train alongside English speaking
business-men, and more often than not have parents for whom English is used in
the workplace. It is a nice change in teaching, the emphasis is on grammatical
accuracy and creativity in the classroom is demanded. Because the children have
been attending language school for years, they get bored easily and know fine
well when youre sauntering through lessons.

In the afternoon I have two ITCs. That is intensive or
one-to-one lessons with two very different children. One is the
ideal student; the other is the very antithesis. One student will willingly
embark upon any task asked of him and approaches everything with a commendable
enthusiasm and verve. The other as I will refer to him, spends ten
minutes pulling doughnuts on a wheeled chair repeating go home, go home,
go home he does this before I have even said good afternoon! Since this
first day I have taught both students for several lessons and, in fact,
the other has become my favourite of the two!

As I leave Emporium I am surprised (as I am continually) by the
heat, by the time I get home I drag my perspiring shell straight into a cold
shower. The options for the evening festivities are slightly different to
LopBuri, in fact the options are endless, mines a bottle of Singa.